My Last Wish
by Darcyjackal
Summary: Sequal to Hunter Becomes Huntie-Danny is currently staying in Forks, and any one in Amity Park with a remote knows it too. As Danny's past colides with his present-it all decides is future which is looking very grim from the start.
1. Chapter 1

**_Okay, the first chapter is up! Now, I must warn you there is not much fighting in this fic-but there is plenty of everything else. Sorry if the ending sucked in the other one, but I had to set it up for this one. So don't think of that ending as the official ending._**

* * *

The T.V. played the footage yet again of the two flying figures battling it out in the skies. The reporters commented as they argued over what it was, but Valerie knew it all too well.

Many thought it was a stunt, others a prank gone wrong, but Valerie knew what it was. It had been two weeks since this footage was taken, two weeks since Vlad Masters had been taken to a hospital for treatment of brain damage. They said he would live in this own world for the rest of his life—not that Valerie cared that much about the man. He had killed her father after all—so she guessed she owed Phantom that much, but the spector still had to be destroyed.

She aimed her gun at the T.V. and fired, sending a bright pink beam into the screen. Only small green sparks were left of the box. She took her cigarette out of her mouth and exhaled, a large plume of smoke swirling over her head.

"I'm coming Phantom," she said, snuffing the cigarette out on an old news clipping of said person. "I'm coming to finish it."

* * *

"AHHH!"

Danny chuckled as he watched Emmet go down in his trap. The young ghost was amused by the attempts of the vampire to try and sneak up on him. It had never been a surprise, the subtle touches on Emmet—plus small hints from Edward without his knowing—kept Danny out of the dark. To be honest, it seemed that Danny had turned the tables, it would just be a matter of time before Emmet realized it.

"Danny!" Emmet roared. "Help me get out of this goo! I know you're up there!"

Danny jumped down to a lower limb on one of the many trees so Emmet could see him, but he didn't come down. He sat down and swung upside down, holding onto the trees by his legs and looking at Emmet upside down.

"This is funny," Danny smirked.

"No it's not! What is this stuff anyway?"

"Oh, just some experimental gunk meant to trap ghosts, but in reality, it can trap anything. It's like you playing with cement—only ten times stronger."

Emmet struggled to free himself from the sticky mess, but only trapped himself further. Danny chuckled, but stopped and frowned when he realized something.

"What?" Emmet asked at seeing his face.

"I haven't thought about how to get you out," Danny confessed.

"So you _just _so happened to have this junk lying around?" Edward asked as he tried to help his brother out of the goo, but only succeeded in getting stuck himself.

"Well, maybe _not _just lying around," Danny smiled guiltily, trying to pull his hand free of Emmet's hair but only got a yelp from the vampire. "The components I found lying around, putting them together to make the goo happened slightly by accident."

"I don't want to know," Edward sighed. "This is so like you, planning something without really planning it."

"It's called improvising!" Danny defended himself.

"Whatever the hell it's called isn't going to help us," Emmet butted in. "We need someone to help us out."

"Our only hope is if Alice sees us in trouble," Edward said, sighing heavily.

"Jasper is going to have a field day with this," Emmet groaned. "I'm never going to live this down."

"Would this be a good time to apologize?" Danny asked sheepishly, but the vampires pinned him with glares telling him to shut up. "Right, I'll apologize when you're not homicidal."

"Good plan," Emmet grunted.

"To bad it's not raining for once," Danny commented to himself. "Water dissolves this stuff."

"What!" the brothers yelled at him.

"Why didn't you remember that before?" Edward yelled at him. "We could have gotten him free without getting trapped ourselves!"

"Oh, I' don't know. Uh, sorry again?"

In actuality, Danny hadn't remembered until his mindless comment flew from his mouth.

_Could it be that—no, it was just mindless idiocy. I've been known for that. _

This arguing with himself was getting old. Either _it _was happening or not, but he really couldn't decide. In the end he always put it to the back of his mind to ignore, but he was afraid he couldn't ignore it much longer.

"You okay Danny?" Edward asked at seeing the odd look on his friend's face.

"Huh? Oh yeah," the Halfa said absentmindedly. "Just feeling a little guilty."

"Don't worry, it's not like you condemned us to ruin," Edward smiled at him. "We'll just have to wait until someone realizes we're missing and comes to get us."

"You mean until Bella realizes you aren't waiting for her," Emmet said. "She's such a worry wart sometimes."

"Well Edward worries all of the time," Danny said. "To be honest, I don't see why you think they're opposites. They're perfect for each other—just like you and Rose since you guys are kind of opposites yourself."

"Yeah I guess you're right," Emmet sighed. "What about you Danny, did you ever have a Bella or a Rose?"

"Yeah, yeah I did," Danny said, looking and sounding like he wished he was elsewhere.

Edward wondered if this was a subject not to touch, but Danny caught his glance and smiled.

"Her name was Sam, kind of a high school sweetheart type thing. We were best friends forever and it grew into more," Danny explained, feeling lighter at the memories, a happy look crossing his features. "I've kept tabs on her throughout the years. She's done very well for herself, an author, supporting some of the largest green organizations to save the planet and what not."

"Did she marry?" Edward asked.

"No, no she never married," Danny said, looking off into the trees. "No one could really handle her, but if I could, I would take her hand in a heartbeat."

"Yeah, the whole staying-young-forever thing can really throw a wrench in your plans," Emmet said, rolling his eyes at the mushy-ness of it all.

_And a few other things, _Danny added to himself.

"I think I hear someone coming," Edward said, looking ahead.

The other two turned with him and all three froze.

"Oh crap," Emmet groaned. "Not him."

Jacob gave a sort of laughing-bark as he came closer to the trio. He shook his great head, enjoying the other's pain as he came out of the trees and into the clearing.

"Yeah, yeah," Edward said in response to Jacob's thoughts. "You want to help us out wolf-boy?"

That proved to be a bad idea since Edward had other things in mind. Soon the trio became four as Jacob joined the stuck party.

"Why didn't you just tell him to get water to dissolve this?" Emmet asked Edward who was smiling smugly at Jacob.

"You can think all of the profanities you want," Edward said to the wolf, "but I'm an expert at ignoring them."

"That was really stupid Edward," Danny said. "You should have told him to get water."

"Why?" Edward asked. "This is too much fun."

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I got to use the facilities."

Edward groaned when Jacob was now thinking the same thing.

"If you pee on me dog, you are going to lose that particular appendage," Emmet growled.

Jacob growled back, his hackles on end.

"You couldn't just keep that thought to yourself?" Edward growled at Danny. "Why can't you keep your mouth shut lately?"

"If you could read my mind, I'm sure you would tell me," Danny bit back, now in a sour mood himself.

"Well it's your fault we're in this mess!" Emmet shouted.

"Technically, I'm only responsible for you two—Edward is responsible for Jacob getting into this," Danny defended himself and Jacob grunted in agreement.

"Whatever," Edward shrugged. "I just want to get out of it."

The other three couldn't argue with that so they became quiet and waited—until nightfall for help to find them.

"Well, I think we learned something today," Carlisle said as he snipped the last of the goo from Danny's hair.

"Don't use experimental goo on Emmet," Danny said as if he was facing his parents.

"Or anyone," Esme said, setting down a tray of food for him to eat. "You still haven't recovered from that attack Danny, don't strain yourself. You need to eat something if you haven't had anything all day."

Danny complied without words, but action. Picking up the sandwich and began to eat in earnest while the vampires left him alone to eat and rest.

"I'm worried about him," Esme said after they were in the hall.

"I am too," Carlisle admitted, rubbing his chin. "He doesn't seem to be himself—he's forgetting things easily and acting very childish. This whole stunt with this goo; something just doesn't add up."

"Maybe we should ask him tomorrow what's going on," Esme suggested, but she was afraid that he would run off if they questioned him.

Danny had a fragile past that no one wanted to talk about. With the death of his sister and everything that followed, Esme knew it was too painful for Danny to say anything much about it, but at the same time, she knew he wasn't telling them everything.

"He has a right to his privacy," Carlisle said after a moment to think about it. "If it starts to endanger us we'll ask him to tell us, but until then, he'll have to decide for himself what to tell us."

Danny slid down the length of the wall. He had overheard what Carlisle had said. He was grateful to the guy for letting him keep his secrets, but he didn't know how much longer he could keep this a secret anymore.

He looked at his right hand again, seeing it shake visible know with multiple spasms. His foot was quickly following his hand's example. He waited the fit out, but they were lasting longer and getting worse each time they occurred—plus the blank spots in his memory were getting to worry him as well. He couldn't deny it any longer—_it _was happening.


	2. Chapter 2

**_I decided to explain things a little early in this fic, but I can promise more surprises in the future! _**

* * *

During the evening, when most of the Cullens were hunting, Danny stole himself away to the room that his hosts provided for him. It was simple in furnishings, but he really liked the add-on they made just for him—a small, blast-proof space where he could repair some of the old weapons he brought with him from home. However, he used it now as a bio-lab now. Tonight it was no different.

Making a small incision on his arm, Danny dropped a few small globs of blood onto a dish and ran it over with a special light designed to look for imperfections in samples that his parents had invented. Green highlights were healthy, the purple highlights told him what was poisoned.

"Oh no," he moaned at seeing the poison growing instead of evaporating like it use too. "It's mutated beyond me, it can stand the atmosphere."

He shut the light off, not wanting to see the proof of what was in his blood. He ran a hand over his eyes and glared at the dish holding the contaminated sample. He tossed it out the window quickly and sank down onto the bed, holding his head in his hands.

He knew it was coming, but he never expected it to be this soon. He had estimated another year at least, but at this rate, he only had a few months left, if that.

"I have to leave," he said, decided.

The Cullens' and Bella had been a great help, and proven themselves to be reliable friends, but they weren't part of this. He was only here until he got back on his feet after all, his time was up here. He had to move on before he couldn't move at all. He didn't want everyone to find out about his condition. They would come up with ridiculous plans to try and save him—when he had tried everything that was and wasn't in the book to save himself. He had come to terms with this death a long time ago, but he hoped someone would kill him before it hit. He was very hopeful that he would die in that speeder crash only two weeks ago when Aragon attacked Edward and him in the Ghost Zone. The one he faced down was going to be slow, and very painful.

"I suppose I deserve it," he told himself, turning out the light and getting under the covers. "I wasn't fast enough to save Jazz, maybe this is my punishment? It sure feels like it."

* * *

The next morning, Danny had his bag ready. He had written a note to the Cullens, saying thanks and that he was going to be moving on. Cujo and Minnie were already outside, waiting for him. He could see their slightly transparent bodies by the forest boarder. Changing into his ghostly ego, he flew out of the window and headed east, towards home.

Too bad home was coming to him.

About five miles out of Forks' range, he heard a familiar sound, but couldn't pinpoint what exactly it was. The sound was driving him nuts, but when he turned, he paled.

"Valerie," he whispered fearfully upon seeing her.

The Huntress pulled up short, looking Phantom over.

"Been a long time Spook," Valerie said, taking aim. "Ready to see the light?"

"Not really," he said, moving out of the way a split second before the beam hit him. "How did you find me?"

"Duh! Your face is all over the country on the T.V. you idiot!" Valerie insulted him. "You are so clueless."

She fired again, and Danny dodged, but just barely. He felt slower today, his power deflating quickly as he took quick turns and dives to avoid Valerie's attacks.

"What, not going to fire something yourself you murderer?" Valerie cursed at him.

A blast finally caught Danny in the back and seemed to drain everything from him. He fell, seeing Cujo and Minnie come up fast at him. Cujo turned tail and ran while Minnie flew up and attached herself to the bottom of Valerie's sled, but that was the last thing he fully remembered.

* * *

"Is he waking up?"

"Give him a few seconds, he had a pretty bad fall."

Danny opened his eyes at hearing voices. The light was bright, making his vision fuzzy, but he knew he was back at the Cullens', Bella hovering over him with a cloth in her hand.

"Danny?" she asked, shaking his shoulder. "Danny can you hear me?"

He groaned, putting a hand to his head, touching a nice-sized knot on his forehead.

"What happened?" he asked, trying to sit up but only got pushed back down by Carlisle.

"You fell on your head," the doctor explained.

"From an eighty foot drop," Alice said, her face to Danny upside down as she looked at him. "What were you thinking flying away like that?"

"It was necessary," Danny said weakly. "I didn't expect to bump into Valerie."

"You mean that she-devil in the sky?" Emmet asked, making circling motions with his finger in the air. "What made her so pissed off at you?"

"It's a long story—but the short version is—I messed up her life—as Phantom—then she dated Fenton and broke up with me—then she found out I had a double life and she's been after my skin ever since."

"An old girlfriend huh?" Emmet chuckled. "Yikes, what did you ever see in that girl?"

"Have you ever seen her in action?" Danny asked Emmet seriously. "She's a ninth degree black belt man—she is so hot!"

"Yeah you like girls in tight dress, we get it," Rose snorted.

"Danny why didn't you fight her?" Edward asked, but he wasn't in Danny's vision so he must have been elsewhere. "Normally you're better than that."

"She caught me off guard," Danny threw out a little too soon.

"No she didn't," Edward argued. "Something is seriously wrong with you, what is it?"

"I'm afraid I have to agree with Edward," Carlisle commented. "You've been acting very strangely Danny, and this lack of energy is worrying me."

"It's probably just a power flux," Danny argued, forcing himself upright, despite the pain in his back. "I get them all the time. I'll be fine in a few days after my power levels settle back down to normal."

"Danny I think this is serious," Carlisle pushed. "Why don't you tell us what's wrong?"

"Maybe because it's under the category of None-of-you-business?" Danny hissed out—why continue to lie if they always caught him in the act? "Can you just leave me alone, all of you?"

The all seemed reluctant, but they made their way out; after Danny heard the sound of the door closing, he got up, limping over to the table where he did the sample testing. Repeating what he did last night, he ran the light over the sample, but he was shocked to see how much purple had spread, and was still spreading.

"It's growing faster than I thought," he said horrified.

"What's growing faster?"

Danny jumped when he heard Edward's voice. He must have stayed behind by the door. Danny had his back to it the entire time since he was left alone.

"Damn it Edward!" Danny cursed him. "I said _all _of you. That meant you as well."

"Danny, what is this?" Edward asked, looking at the light and the glowing sample. "What are you doing? What's growing? Tell me what's going on."

Danny sighed and pushed the sample closer to Edward for his inspection. Edward looked at it and grunted in confusion.

"This means nothing to me," the vampire confessed.

"It's my blood," Danny hung his head, feeling tired again. "See the purple spots?"

"There's a lot of them."

"Yeah, there's more than last night, more than ever before actually."

"So what are the purple spots?"

"A type of slow growing poison. It feeds off of my biological material; it came with the ghost powers when I got fried in the portal twenty-three years ago. At first it was almost non-existent—not a trace to be found it was so minuet. Over the years it stealthily grew, but as my power increased, the poison had to overcome more obstacles to grow since something kept the poison at bay in my system. When I found out about the whole Secret Keeper thing, my natural powers stopped growing, but they had done so at a great rate at the time that the poison was almost at a standstill."

"But something happened," Edward said quietly. "It somehow mutated to your body and is feeding off of you again, and since your powers aren't growing anymore—"

"Nothing can stop it," Danny finished.

"But, that sounds more like a virus then a poison. Surely after all this time you could prepare an antidote?"

"You would think, but I'm the only case on both worlds. There is no cure, I've tried everything, short of killing myself."

"The Speeder accident in the Ghost Zone, that's why you were so comfortable with dying—you already were."

"Yes."

"And is this why you really came back to earth? I can imagine that you might want to patch things up with your family after twenty years."

"No, that's not why, but it does have to do with me dying. I didn't want to die in the Ghost Zone Edward, I was hoping to die quietly here on earth somewhere, like a broken animal I suppose. There was no one here who would want me to live anyway, but I didn't want to die a coward. I want to be comfortable before I go, I want to be at least at peace with myself and the things I've never attempted or tried. It seems I'm cursed with remembering what I failed at more then what I succeeded in."

Edward glanced at the poisoned sample then back at his dying friend.

"Why didn't you tell Carlisle? We could help you."

"No," Danny's sharp answer surprised the vampire. "I don't want false hope Edward, that will kill me more than the virus itself."

"Your parents then, surely they know more about this ghost stuff then we do?"

"Yes, but they hate me remember? They wouldn't lift a finger to help a ghost, why should their half dead son make a difference?"

Edward saw he wasn't going to make progress in this area, so he changed the subject.

"How long?"

"Last night I guessed at six months at the most, but now," Danny shrugged his shoulders hopelessly. "I have less than that—that's the best I can tell you."

"You really can't expect me to keep this a secret."

"No, I can't, but I wish for you to keep it secret until you have no other choice to tell the others. It will get worse Edward, much worse, and I guess I have no other option then to die here. It's not like you're going to let me go after that stunt and Valerie's surprise attack."

"You got that right, but, how will I know it will be worse?"

"Oh you'll know. Have you noticed how my memory has been bad lately? It's affecting my short-term memory. I may not remember this conversation tomorrow, so I can't hold you to your promise, so I hope you're as honorable as I make you out to be."

"I won't go against your wishes unless I have to," Edward nodded. "Danny tell me, how much worse will it get?"

Danny's hand began to flap very visibly beside him and landing on his thigh, his foot twitched slightly with his hand.

"My motor functions are already deteriorating," Danny said as he held his moving hand down against his chest. "Soon I won't be able to walk, if move, at all. It's draining my energy so my powers are useless. Eventually, it will probably eat at anything it can—my sight, my lungs, my heart. It's all free game right now. Just know it will be painful and a slow death after it hits hard."

"And when will that be?"

"I don't know."

Danny coughed into his hand, wincing at the pain in his throat.

"I think it's already caught up to my lungs," he wheezed. "I doubt it's allergies."

Edward put a hand on Danny's shoulder to keep him steady on his weak legs. He helped the weakened ghost into bed and watched him as he began to sleep—or pass out—he wasn't sure which one it was.

"How can I help Danny?" he asked the sleeping figure. "You saved my life, so I can repay you, but you don't want help. You're so stubborn, just like Will."

Edward sighed and left the room, thinking just how much like a brother Danny was to him.


	3. Chapter 3

**_A warning must be placed here! Next week, I will be starting freshman year of college so updats will be even less frequent! Also, you must review and let me know how this chapie turned out!_**

* * *

Valerie slammed her board down on the floor in her hotel room. She was seething with rage, ready to punch anyone that came through that door and wanted to blast something to pieces.

"I can't believe he got away from me again!" she shrieked, kicking something with such force that the wall had a nice new dent because of it. "How does he escape every single time?"

She stopped ranting for a minute, having caught sight of something at the window. She hurriedly pushed the curtains back and stared into the dark sky, squinting against the full moon as she caught sight of a couple of figures in the air.

She smiled as an idea formed in her head, they might be useless to others, but they might prove useful today.

Grabbing her board, she jumped on and took off in the same direction of the figures, towards the forest again.

* * *

"Are you sure you're up to this?" Edward whispered to Danny, opening the car door for the ghost.

"I need to get out of the house," Danny argued, glaring at the windows. "No offence to your family, but they're beginning to get on my nerves, staring at me and all."

"They have reason to stare," Edward said a little sharply. "How long can you ignore this?"

"For as long as I have to," Danny said, a growl just beneath his annoyed tone. "Just drive."

Danny shut the door loudly and Edward walked over to the driver's side. The vampire got in, started the engine, and backed out of the drive. Once on the highway, Edward stole a glance at Danny, his eyes softening at the ghost.

Danny had only gotten worse since yesterday when they had dragged him back from the attack with Valerie. His cough was gaining in strength, his voice raspy from having ruined his throat with the excessive coughing, his skin was an unhealthy pale, and his eyes were sunk in so far that Edward wondered if they would stay that way permanently. On top of this, Danny didn't seem to remember much of the attack, only that he had gotten hurt somehow. Edward had to remind him many times of what had happened, but lately, Danny hadn't been able to comprehend anything.

Danny rolled down the window and let the wind blow on his face, pulling his hair back and giving the sensation that he was flying.

"I'm going to miss flying," Danny said softly. "It was my one escape from life."

Edward turned his eyes back to the road, unable to say anything to that. What had him baffled was how calm Danny was with all of this. Granted he wasn't a ghost, but even a half-ghost should be scared of death right? He was constantly scared for Bella, and if he admitted it to himself, the thought of death still scared him. Because of what he was now, he didn't know what was in store for him, and he really wanted to know if Danny was going somewhere he deserved.

Danny had grown on Edward, so much so that Edward knew he would miss the half-ghost terribly when he died. He wanted to badly to help, but helping Danny enjoy his last days was all he could do for now, he would do it gladly.

A large explosion behind them caused the Volvo to jump forward, the back tires leaving the pavement before coming back down and jarring the occupants as well as anything that would make it run correctly. The back axel snapped like a twig, making the whole rear of the car sink and drag across the road, making sparks and a squealing noise. It eventually stopped and the two guys got out, Edward a little jarred by the unexpected attack and Danny rather woozily as he leaned against the rest of the car for support.

"What the heck was that?" Edward asked, looking at his damaged car. "I didn't even hear it coming."

"Neither did I," Danny said, looking up at the sky. "And there's only one thing I can think of that can do that."

"And what would that be?"

To answer his question, two stark white figures landed onto the ground in front of them, guns in their gloved hands and helmets over their heads. On their faces were dark sunglasses—but that seemed unnecessary in the dead of night in a dreary town like Forks.

"Government tech," Danny said, seething on the inside that the GIW had found him here. "I'm really beginning to hate T.V."

"Target acquired," the one of the left said, speaking in a loud robotic voice as if his partner couldn't hear him from two feet away. "Lock on target and destroy."

"Uh oh," Danny's eyes got wide as the guns charged in the agents' hands and they were aimed at him.

Out of instinct, he turned ghost and flew out of the way, just the guns fired. Edward likewise jumped away from his car—which was now a flaming ball of twisted metal.

"Oh great," he said eyeing Danny up in the air. "How come every time I'm in a vehicle with you, it gets demolished?"

"Uh, bad karma?" Danny said, shrugging his shoulders and giving his custom goofy smirk, but it was erased when the agents fired again. "Would you just leave me alone you bone heads!"

As answer, the men fired again. Danny dodged and growled at them. He plunged straight down into the ground, phasing into the earth. A moment later, he had his hands around the agent's ankles and tossing them in the air. Both landed in a pile on the ground, out cold and bruised. Danny landed, but it was more of a tumble as he changed back to human.

"You okay?" Edward asked, helping Danny stand up.

"I'm getting weaker," Danny put a hand to his forehead, cringing at the pulsing headache and the cough that was building up in his chest. "That took a lot out of me."

Edward made Danny sit down and the Halfa didn't fight, not that he had much energy to fight with anyway.

"I wonder why I can't hear them," Edward went over to one of the men and lifted the helmet off of his head.

"Interesting," Edward said as he slipped the helmet back on then off again. "The helmets block my ability to read their minds."

"Weird, they're designed to make sure a ghost can't overshadow them," Danny said. "I guess they cured mind reading too, not that I've tried to read their minds, not much to sift through."

"Well, you got that right," Edward said as he slipped the helmet back on the bald head and stood up again.

He looked over to the flaming pile that was his car and sighed. He had two nicer cars at home, but the Volvo really had been his favorite. Still, he could always buy another one if he wanted to.

"Sorry about the car," Danny said when he caught Edward staring at the flame ball.

"It wasn't your fault," Edward shook his head. "Come on, let's get home before that fire hits the gas tank."

"What about them?" Danny looked distantly at the agents.

"I'll drag them out of range," Edward said as he started to pick them up as if they weighed no more than children.

He dumped the men into a ditch and went back to get Danny. The ghost was bending over, his back to the vampire, as he coughed harshly into his hand. His whole body was shaking from the spasms. Edward knelt down next to Danny and touched the boy's shoulder.

"You okay?" he asked, but Danny didn't respond.

He only half turned and Edward got a peek at what Danny was cupping in his hand. He gasped when he saw it was red, a deep yucky brown that was obviously his blood. It didn't smell like human blood, in fact, it smelled rather foul, but it made Edward worry all the same. Danny's body ran on blood just like Bella's, not like a vampire's—and if he lost blood, it was one step closer to death.

"Danny can you hear me?" Edward shook Danny's shoulders slightly, but the Halfa seemed completely somewhere else.

He passed out quickly and Edward hurried to catch him before his head hit the ground. He saw trickles of blood on Danny's shirt as the vampire lifted the half-ghost up to carry him back home.

* * *

In the bushes, Valerie snapped a few shots of everything: the car blowing up, that odd kid just tossing the agents into a ditch, how Phantom looked ill and weak—even more so then when she had met him yesterday.

"Who is your little friend Phantom?"Valerie asked no one, seeing Edward's face cross her camera screen again.

He looked pale enough to be a ghost, but her radar wasn't picking him up as such, even on Phantom's special frequency didn't work on the kid. Either he was a new kind of ghost, or something else. Valerie betted on the latter since the kid hadn't helped Phantom fight the agents and zoomed out of there faster than Valerie knew possible for a ghost—well many ghosts, Phantom being one of them.

"Well, let's get some info on you and we'll find his hiding spot," Valerie said to the screen on her camera as she got up and left the scene just as the gas tank exploded.


	4. Chapter 4

**_One week and counting! I'm so exited, but scared at the same time. Anyway, this next instalment will really give you guys an idea of what is going to be happening in later chapters._**

* * *

"Oh come on," Tucker pleaded with his car as the engine chocked again.

He punched the steering wheel with a fist, but that only resulted in him missing and punching the dash instead. Tucker pulled his hand back and waved it around to get rid of the pain.

"Stupid piece of junk," he said, getting out of the car and popping the hood.

When he lifted the hood, a huge plume of smoke billowed out at him and caught him full in the face. The tech geek pulled away and pulled off his now smoky glasses, cleaning them off on his shirt and placing them back on his head.

"Just my luck, stuck in the middle of nowhere," he looked around at the endless rows of trees and the stretch of highway that curved out of sight around the bend up ahead.

He didn't see a sign to state where exactly he was, and of course he didn't have a map in his broken-down car. His cell had no service as well and his PDA needed to be recharged. There was no help unless an unexpected old friend drove up and just happened to recognize him as he stood helplessly on the side of the road.

"Tucker?"

Talk about accurate.

"Sam, what the heck are you doing here? Not that I'm not happy to see you," he amended.

"Well, I have a book signing in Seattle," Sam said, stepping out of her car and approaching him. "I had to take a detour since there was a big accident up on the main highway."

"You don't know how happy I am to see you!"

Tucker hugged the Goth woman, picking up her smaller frame quiet easily, but then he realized what he was doing and put her down quickly.

"Sorry," he said, brushing himself off.

"It's okay," she chuckled, than turned serious, "but if you do that again, my boot goes up your butt."

Tucker nodded, remembering the last time she used that threat—he was sore for a very long time.

"Sorry again," he apologized. "It just haven't seen you since. . ."

He trailed off, knowing that he shouldn't say their third friend's name aloud. Sam looked at the ground, knowing what he was about to say and was trying desperately to get the thought out of her mind.

"Why don't you ride with me?" Sam said to break the awkward moment. "There's a town just a few miles from here, I'm sure we can find someone to lug your atmosphere polluting junk heap there."

"Thanks Sam. . . hey! I built this myself you know!"

The contraption sputtered and coughed slightly before sagging onto the pavement as if the tires suddenly became flat.

"That explains a lot," Sam teased as she got into her Kia. "Coming?"

Tucker grumbled about the unfortunate side-effects of the universe and climbed into the passenger side of Sam's car.

"Hey, you got jumbo cup-holders in here!"

* * *

Forks was rolling with activity by the time the two friends got there. Sam and Tucker looked at the odd figures that roamed the streets with odd technology—the problem was, it was all too familiar.

"What are these freaks doing here?" Sam asked, having to stop for a pair of oddly dressed men as they started to comb the street for something.

"I don't know, but speaking of freaks, doesn't that van look familiar?" Tucker asked, pointing up ahead to a large parking lot.

The large sleek vehicle rested on the edge, its green trim and large spaces for assorted weapons all too familiar to the two.

"The Fentons are here?" Sam asked, curiosity making her pull up into the lot next to the hulking contraption. "I thought they gave up ghost hunting after the whole thing with Jazz."

"I did too," Tucker said, looking at the RV and not believing his eyes. "Should we?"

Sam nodded and opened the car door, Tucker doing the same on his side. The two went up to the door on the RV and knocked timidly.

* * *

"He's a mess," Carlisle said, shaking his head. "His lung tissue it dissolving away, as if acid is in his system."

Alice looked at Danny who was confined to the bed, an IV in his arm and a heart monitor by the bedside as well. The half-ghost was still out cold, sweat beginning to show on his face and his skin an unhealthy pale.

"He's got samples in his room," Edward said to Carlisle, looking very worn. "Maybe those can help."

"I'll get them, you get a current sample for me to examine," Carlisle said, moving out of the room.

"He's not happy," Alice said, watching Edward go about getting a blood sample from Danny.

"What made you think that?" Edward said, slightly annoyed as he jammed the needle into Danny's arm. "I'm sorry I didn't tell him sooner, but Danny made me promise."

"I understand," Alice said quietly. "I'm just confused as to why he didn't tell us. We could have helped him earlier before it got this bad."

"He doesn't want help Alice, he just wants to die, and I can't say I blame him."

"But, we love him, he's already like a little brother to me, and you Edward, don't try denying it."

Edward didn't say anything, but what Alice said was true. Danny had somehow wormed his way into the family—that was probably why Carlisle was upset, he didn't want to lose Danny, none of them did.

"Ouch."

Edward looked up and saw Danny starting to open his eyes weakly.

"You know I hate needles," the half-ghost smirked at Edward, but a cough deformed his features.

"Danny," Alice rushed to his side, "how are you feeling?"

"Like crap, as expected," Danny rasped. "I take it you told Carlisle?"

Edward nodded and took the needle out of Danny's arm.

"He's not happy Danny, in fact, he's very, very worried that you won't make it."

"Didn't you tell him not to interfere?"

"I tried, but he wouldn't have any of it. He's determined to save you Danny."

The half-ghost sighed heavily, coughing slightly and wincing at the pain in his chest. He sat up and was halfway out of the bed when Alice pushed him back down.

"You're not going anywhere," she countered.

"I beg to differ," Danny narrowed his eyes and phased through the bed.

Edward jumped to catch him, but he wasn't fast enough.

"I hate it when he does that," he grumbled, lifting himself off of the bed and running for the door with Alice.

By the time they got the front door, Emmet was busy trying to wrestle Danny to stay in the house and Jasper was blocking the doorway with his body.

"You can't go back out there," Edward told the struggling ghost. "Do you know how many ghost hunters you attracted? They're swarming Forks like an infestation."

"Don't care," Danny mumbled, shaking Emmet off and tossing the vampire into the wall. "I need to get out there and make sure the GIW don't track me back to the house; they won't hesitate to tear it down."

Danny was about to dislodge Jasper from the doorway when the window smashing and some object flying through it caught everyone's attention. Danny saw the object flying towards him and ducked.

"Ha!" he cheered, but it only smacked him in the back of the head in the next second. "Ow, not again."

Edward got to the object first and picked it up.

"A boomerang?" he asked, confused.

"Oh crap, I got to get out of here!" Danny panicked, but the next second the door burst open and a couple of bazookas were shoved in his face.

* * *

**_So obvious right? _**


	5. Chapter 5

**_I LIVE! but seriously folks, sorry for not updating quicker. Life's been busy lately, and I finally got a small break and the muse back to write another chapie. R&R please! _**

* * *

"Oh crap," Danny swore under his breath, looking down the barrels of the rather large guns.

Behind the guns were the two bald-headed Neanderthals from last night.

"Daniel Fenton," one of them said, tightening his finger on the trigger, "you're wanted for the murder of Jasmine Fenton and the assault of Vlad Masters."

"Hold that thought," Danny smirked.

The two agents looked puzzled, but Emmet's fist soon wiped that look from their faces as he bashed them over the head. The two men fell to the floor, their weapons now useless in their gloved hands.

"Wow, for a second there, I thought it was someone else," Danny rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Now what do we do with them?"

"Well, we need to hide it from the monstrosity coming up the drive," Jasper said, looking at the driveway and the giant RV that had pulled up to the house.

"Oh no," Danny turned pale, the look on his face one of shock and horror. "They can't see me, at all. I'm not here!"

He turned invisible, the others wondering what had him even more spooked then the GIW guys that had _guns _in his face just a second ago.

"Quick, get them in the garage," Edward said to Emmet, pointing at the agents.

Emmet nodded and got to work. Edward joined Jasper on the porch and watched as the assumable fumbled out of the vehicle. There were four of them, two men and two women, but what Edward was staring at the most was the grey-haired man dressed in a large orange Hazmat suit. It looked like the inflatable auto pilot from the speeder when Danny and Edward were trapped in the Ghost Zone a few weeks ago.

"His parents," Edward whispered in shock, his head confirming it as he began to race through their thoughts.

"What?" Jasper asked just as shocked. "His parents! How could they be here? How did they find him?"

Edward lifted up the boomerang that was still in his hand, recognizing the FentonWorks logo on the front of it now, it was easily matched up with the giant sign on the side of the car.

"Is this yours?" Edward went forward, holding up the device for the others to look at.

A woman dressed in primarily black and all around scary looking to even a vampire squinted at the thing in his hand from the distance and recognized it instantly.

"Yes!" she said, sounding relieved. "Where did you find it?"

"It broke one of our windows," Edward pointed over his shoulder into the house.

"Sorry about that," the large man came up and took the boomerang from Edward, "never did calibrate this thing right."

"Which is why it works now," an older woman in a teal suit said, her voice lightly accented. "We're so sorry about the window, we'll pay for it of course."

"No need," Edward said, holding up his hand to stop her from offering more, "but I have to ask, what exactly is that thing?"

"It's the Booooooomerang," the large man said, pressing the 'boo' part of his odd invention. "It's a device that leads you right to the ghost after it locks onto a certain ecto-signature."

"Well we don't have any ghosts here," Edward lied smoothly.

"But there must be something here, a slight trace of something, otherwise the boomerang wouldn't have led us here," the black man spoke up for the first time, adjusting his glasses as he said his part. "Can't we take a look inside your house?"

"Yes please," the black clothed woman seemed desperate. "It won't take long, and nothing will get ruined."

Edward was squirming on the inside—on the one hand, he couldn't exactly just make them leave, it would be rude. On the other hand, this thing had obviously led them to Danny, and Danny didn't want to be found. Sending those people into the house would probably get Danny discovered, if he hadn't already fled the area. Taking a chance that Danny was gone from the house, Edward let the Fentons and the two other folks into the house.

"Thank you," the teal suited woman said, and Edward deduced that she was Danny's mother. "I'm Maddie Fenton by the way, that's Jack, my husband."

"Hi ho!" Jack boomed, going over to a conspicuous corner in the living room.

"And that's Sam and Tucker, some good friends of our son's," Maddie said, pointing to the two other people. "You haven't seen anything weird around here lately have you?"

Maddie seemed desperate to find information about her son, but she didn't even know that Danny had been in this same house, stood where she was standing now. Her thoughts and her look made Edward cave slightly.

"Actually—OW!"

Edward was cut off by a sharp pain in his leg. So Danny was still in the house and didn't want that information to get out—did he have to kick so hard to get his point across?

"Are you okay?" Maddie asked, watching Edward's face crumple in pain.

"Uh, yeah," he stammered out, glaring at Emmet for snickering quietly. "Just an old—injury. Acts up sometimes."

"You're too young to have that kind of injury," Maddie chided him. "Go sit down hon and I'll go get some ice."

Edward took her advice and went to the couch—well limped most of the way anyway.

"Sorry," was whispered into his ear when he sat down. "I couldn't let you say anything."

"Don't do it again," Edward muttered under his breath, glaring at where he hoped Danny was standing.

Maddie came back with an ice pack and handed it to him. To be honest the ice didn't do anything, but Edward went through the motions of putting it on and relaxing as if it was really helping his muscles to relax.

"Now what were you saying before?" Maddie picked up the conversation again.

"Uh," Edward scrambled for something to say, but came up blank.

"Mads, he was here," Jack came up, shoving something under Maddie's nose for her to read. "He was here, and not long ago."

"You're sure it's him?" Maddie asked, her voice soft with emotion.

"The signature is unmistakable, but what I can't figure out is all of this flux," Jack pointed at something on the screen that Edward couldn't see. "I normally see this in unstable ghosts."

"You don't think his matter is breaking down already?" Maddie asked horrified. "Jack, if he's destabilizing, it could have a damaging result on the whole town. We have to find him."

"They know?" Edward heard Danny whisper, horrified and shocked. "How did they find out?"

"Mr. Fenton, I'm getting some weird readings over here," Tucker said, coming over to the big man. "According to these readings, Danny's still in the house."

"What?" both of the older adults nearly yelled in surprise.

"Where is he?" Maddie turned burning eyes to Edward. "I swear if you lie to me—"

"Mrs. Fenton please," Edward rose his hands up to protect himself from a very angry human woman that he was actually kind of scared of—now he knew where Danny got his temper from.

A pained gasp had them confused since no one in the room looked to be in trouble. Edward heard it again then a thump as something fell behind the couch. Maddie turned around first and screamed when she saw what had fallen.

"DANNY!"


	6. Chapter 6

**_I'm not entierly sure how long this one is going to go, but I think it's going to be shorter then _Hunter Becomes Huntie. _Also, it's almost time for a title drop! I want to see your ideas about what Danny's last whish might be. Just submit them in the review box if you want and I'll let you know if you're hot or cold. Happy reading!_**

* * *

Danny had been terrified when he saw the large RV pull up and almost demolish the Cullen's front lawn. Although the familiarity brought a sort of warmth to his heart, it mostly brought fright and rejection to his weakened heart. Turning invisible was easy, staying invisible was hard. With so much energy lost during the last fight, he knew he had to conserve it in order to keep conscious for a little longer. Eventually, he would probably go into a pain-induced coma, but he wanted that to be a while down the road. He still had a few things he wanted to say to the family before he kicked the bucket. However, the arrival of his own family and friends was a complication.

He stuck close to the couch by Edward, knowing his mother would be the most dangerous one in the room if he was found out. What surprised him was that she knew of his deteriorating state. How they knew he wasn't sure, but they way they acted, scared for his life, made him think that perhaps they weren't here to rip him apart molecule by molecule.

Eventually the invisibility was causing him complications, but he wasn't ready to show himself to his family. He was too cowardly to do this and he knew it. The fact was a blow to his pride but he didn't particularly care at the moment. The drain on his energy was evident when his lungs seemed to shut off and leave him on his own to gather air. Despite being half dead, Danny still need to breath in order to survive. His first gasp was one of surprise; his hand flew up to his chest where he felt his heart start to sputter painfully from the lack of oxygen to rotate in his body. The second gasp was of pain; he lost his hold on his invisibility and fell, still clutching his chest and hoping he could just rip his heart out to stop the pain. Now his lungs were making themselves known by working again, but he was only able to cough instead of inhale.

He heard people yelling and screaming, he wondered if something was broken as well, but it didn't register in his mind since he was losing his grip on this world. His limbs felt heavy and his breathing was shallow and staggering. After every breath, he coughed grimly into the Cullen's spotless white carpet, staining it with his blood. His hold on his chest loosened as his arm became inoperable and began to shake uselessly by his side. He dry gasped into the carpet, trying to get air, but it was useless, his lungs were already malfunctioning to the point where they couldn't hold a breath. He was going to suffocate right there in front of everyone.

Opening his eyes was hard because it was an effort he didn't have the energy for, but he fought the sleep he so wanted and forced his lids to listen to his wishes. He found himself in an unfamiliar room, yet it was familiar somehow. The needles in his arm and tube through his nose were new though and he saw someone in a chair beside his bed, looking at the far wall.

He looked familiar, but Danny couldn't place him. After squinting his failing eyes for a second it came back fuzzily to him. It was Edward, the vampire was sitting next to him in the chair, and he was a trusted friend, but that was all Danny could gather from his shot memory. He didn't remember anything—the Ghost Zone fiasco—how Edward had saved him from Vlad—none of it; he only knew that Edward was a friend and right now, that was enough for him to know.

He tried to say the vampire's name, but it only came out as a dry gag. It was enough to grab Edward's attention though and when he saw that Danny was awake, an astonished look came over his face and he came right over.

"Don't try to say anything," Edward said quietly. "You had a pretty bad episode downstairs."

None of that really registered with Danny, but he didn't say so. All he knew was that he was suffering and he wanted it to end.

"Your lungs are pretty much gone," Edward said, hoping to fill the silence with something. "Your parents hooked you up to this contraption and it's been helping keep you stable. They're with Carlisle right now, sharing ideas on how to save you. Your heart is failing too; you had an attack after your lungs stopped working. We don't think you can move anything from the waist down, but you might prove us wrong."

Danny was quiet and listened, his face showing nothing, but he was cowering with fear on the inside—he knew it was only going to get worse. Why hadn't one of his ghost enemies done in with him already? They would have spared him a lot of pain, and he wasn't about to kill himself, but he had been contemplating on how to do just that not long ago.

He tried to get a word out, but Edward stopped him.

"No talking, you should be sleeping really, but if you're up to it, your friends want to see you. I was supposed to tell them once you woke up, or that rather dark girl was going to do some unspeakable things to my brain—I'd like to see her try though."

"Never underestimate Sam," Danny said in a husky whisper.

"If you say so—wait, wasn't she your—"

Danny nodded to cut the vampire off. Edward sighed and tapped his chin in thought.

"I could say you're still sleeping if you don't want to face this now."

Danny shook his head and waved Edward out of the room. The vampire did as was bid of him and sent Tucker and Sam in after him.

"About time," Danny heard Sam grumble as she came into the room.

Tucker following a pace back in caution in case the Goth turned on him. She hadn't been in a good mood since they whisked Danny off and she was supposed to stay out of the way. Her griping filled the room more than any solid thing after she was told to stay away.

Now that she was here, she was silent, looking at the withered figure on the bed. Tucker was just as quiet, still shocked that they had actually found his best friend after all of these years, but that he was dying right before their eyes. It almost seemed impossible. Growing up, Danny had always been the invincible one, the one that seemed able to counter any obstacle in his path, even before his powers. To see Tucker's hero in such pain and weakness was a blow in reality for him—that all good things don't last forever.

"Danny?"

Sam said it like a question, unsure on how to approach this situation.

Danny turned his head to them and waved them over with his left hand, the right still felt odd and he didn't dare use it unless he wanted it to spasm again. Sam took the chair that Edward had been in a minute ago and Tucker stood at the foot of the bed, leaning on one of the posts.

"You look like crap dude," was the first thing he said.

Sam was ready to rap him against the head, but Danny smiled knowingly and seemed to chuckle at the expected burst from his best friend. He had missed Tucker's bluntness and ability to point out the obvious. It was refreshing to hear someone that could cut the world into simple black and white and make it seem so simple that it couldn't be that easy. Normally it wasn't, but to Tuck it was.

"One more idiotic thing like that and I'm going to throw you out the window Tuck," Sam warned.

Oh yes, there was Sam's way of looking at the world—all sword and quill. Always threats and no alternatives—her way or no way. How odd that was to him now, seeing how many different paths that humans could use their lives and how many times they chose the wrong path. Sam was the kind of person to think her steps out logically then give the effort everything she had. The world needed more dedicated people like her.

"You have questions?" he asked when the silence was in control.

"Dude, save your voice," Tucker said, but Danny glared at him.

"Bull shit, I'll talk if I want to talk," the ghost grumbled.

"Don't use that language," Sam chided him.

"I'm as old as you Sam, I just look seventeen," Danny countered.

"And you just had a heart attack that should have been the property of a seventy year old, so shut your yap and rest your voice," Sam argued.

Danny looked to the side of the bed, out the big window and into the dusky sky. It was going to be night soon, than he could see the stars again.

"Danny I'm sorry," Sam whispered an apology. "I shouldn't have yelled at you."

Danny waved it off, but Sam continued.

"I shouldn't have been angry either; it's just that, you scared me."

"You scared all of us," Tucker said. "When we saw you on the ground, I never want to see that again Dan, never. I thought you were dead—for good this time."

"I don't have too much time left," Danny said, looking back at them. "I estimated that I would be to this point in five months—that was a week ago."

"You knew you were dying?" Sam said incredulously. "And you didn't find an antidote?"

"There is no cure Sam," Danny closed his eyes and sighed. "I tried, I really did, but there is nothing that can help me. I came back to die in peace, I never meant for this all to happen. I didn't want you to see me die—much less watch me suffer like this."

He heard Sam get out of the chair, but he didn't expect her to kiss him. When she pulled way, he opened his eyes to look into her purple ones with astonishment.

"I would much rather know what happened to you then be left to wonder about your doom," Sam whispered into his ear. "If we can't find anything to help you . . . then we can take you back home, and put you beside Jazz. Give you a proper funeral and make people see who you really were."

Danny found her hand with his good one and squeezed as hard as he could in his weakened state.

"I'd like that Sam," he said quietly. "I think I'm going to pass out again. I'm so tired."

"Okay," she brushed some of his hair out of his eyes as he began to sleep again. "You sleep, Tucker and I will be here when you wake up."

"Fine, I'd like that too," Danny whispered as he drifted off again.


	7. Chapter 7

**_I have no comment now, as hard as it is to believe! _**

* * *

Jack watched Edward as the boy came down the stairs, looking oddly pale in the light of the housing fixtures. The man couldn't put his finger on it, but he looked oddly familiar, like that guy at the gas station that's always there but you never know their name type feeling.

Edward caught the train of Jack's thoughts and looked at the man as he stepped on the floor.

"What?" he asked, though he knew perfectly well what was up.

"Have we met before?" Jack asked, squinting his eyes as if that would bring everything in focus.

"Not to my knowledge," Edward said truthfully.

He had never met this man until he met Danny. It was near to impossible for Jack to know him when Edward—a hundred and ten year-old-vampire—had never placed eyes on the man until that morning.

Before the situation became uncomfortable, Maddie walked into the room and motioned for Jack to join her. The big man walked past Edward and into the kitchen/lab where Carlisle was bent over a microscope at a counter, littered with many things from the Fenton's van.

"Is Danny okay?" Maddie asked Edward when he joined them.

"He woke up a moment ago, Sam and Tucker are with him," he answered her and she looked somewhat happy with this news.

"Your family has been very gracious to my boy," Maddie said, her way of thanks.

"Well, he's sort of wormed his way in here," Edward confessed. "It almost like he's part of our family."

"Danny has an odd way of doing that, always has since he was a little boy. He never saw people as different like we might categorize them. All he saw was a person, weather they were black or white, Asian or American, it didn't matter—he saw everyone as his equal, and that's what makes him a good hero. He doesn't judge on who he saves."

Edward was somewhat jealous of Danny now; knowing the ghost still had a mother that could lavish this kind of pride about her son to basic strangers. Although, Esme always took her chance to talk about him as if she really was his mother. Still, seeing his real mother would have been nice.

"Edward, come here and look at this," Carlisle said, waving his son over.

Edward bent down and looked through the scope at the samples that they had gathered. With the neon light beaming on it, it was easy to see what was happening in Danny's blood stream.

"It's degenerating," Edward said, a fact to him that he was determined to not let him cloud his judgment.

"Wrong," Jack told him, a word that Edward rarely heard towards him, "It's a feeding frenzy for this thing."

"You see, ghosts don't work like we do," Maddie jumped in to spare the strangers from her husband's babbling ways. "Ghosts continually absorb energy to flue themselves, but after a time, they expel that energy back—like we might do with breathing. Only, what a ghost expels is emotion—fear from most. Danny's one of the few who expel positive emotion and intentions, making everything around him flourish."

"And that's the problem," Jack said, taking the sample from the scope base and placing it close to a potted plant on the counter. "This poison seems to be altering the effects that Danny should be giving off, and he knows this. He's been holding it in this whole time, and it really wouldn't make a difference in his condition I'm afraid, but if the effects are released—" Jack dropped the sample into the base of the plant; almost at once, the plant started to crumble as if made up of old dry clay. "Everything around Danny becomes dependant on him in a way if he stays in the area for too long. Amity Park was a walking wasteland when he left. If he dies here, then everything will die—the plant life and the streams will wither, making the animal populace dwindle and making human habitation impossible in this area."

"That's not all," Maddie pulled the sample out of the crumbled plant and put it back under the scope. "This virus is also altering how Danny combines the energy around him and develops it into his own energy for his life to be sustained. It's making it near impossible for that to happen, making his body try and find ways to keep him alive, and that's what's killing him."

"He's starving," Carlisle realized, his eyes growing wide. "He's starving and his body is destroying itself trying to keep him alive."

"Well that explains the easy power drains," Edward thought out loud. "He has no energy to use for his powers, that's why he can't use them: it's only making him weaker."

"If we don't find some way to help him feed, then we're going to lose him faster," Carlisle said, tapping his fingers out on the counter near the scope. "Do you have any ideas Mrs. Fenton?"

"Well, right now, we need to keep Danny where he is—anything that requires energy must be put down to a minimum: moving, talking, even breathing have to be conserved," Maddie said, but it was clear on her face that she had no real solution.

"At least we know the cause now," Jack said, trying to make everyone turn to positive thoughts. "Now we just have to figure out how to beat it. We should try some of the Ecto-Dejecto and see if that will help him soak up any energy."

"We'll test it on the samples first Jack," Maddie told him. "Don't get ahead of yourself—again."

"I'm on it! Hey, do you guys have any fudge around?"

* * *

The test on the samples proved to be somewhat successful. It helped Danny's blood digest what it needed, but only by a slight margin. Still, it was better than nothing.

Jack leaned back and rubbed his eyes tiredly. The only light to help him was the desk light and the beams of the moon as they filtered in through the window into his work station. Picking up the mug of coffee he had been offered—man these Cullens really knew how to brew!—he sipped it and went back to work, recording his findings once again, but he had no idea if this would really help his son. With samples it might look positive, but they were small, distributing this into a body might take more time or not be effective at all. This virus was a fast mutating thing, almost as if it had a mind of its own.

"Mr. Fenton?"

Jack looked up and saw a small girl enter the room—Alice he now remembered. She had another plate of fresh fudge for him in her hand along with the pitcher of that life-giving drink he had just drained from his mug. He held up the cup and she refilled it with a slight smile at his gusto.

"Anything?" she asked, glancing at his notes.

"Well, I've made progress, but I'm not sure if it will work. You tell Carlisle, I'd like his opinion since he's an actual doctor."

"Of course," Alice nodded and left the room.

Jack put his eyes back to the scope again, but he drew back immediately in shock. He put his eyes back down to look at the sample and his brow furrowed in confusion. The sample had absorbed much energy was now a much healthier green, the dejecto doing its work marvelously.

"How did that happen? I don't remember changing anything," he mumbled to himself.

Carlisle came into the room, hovering over Jack's shoulder.

"You wanted me to look at something?" he asked the human.

"Well, yeah I do now," Jack moved from his spot and let Carlisle work while Jack mused about what had changed the sample so quickly. "This is amazing Jack, I never would have thought this stuff would work so well."

"Well, that's just it. It did work, but not to the degree that you see on that sample, and I didn't change anything so I wonder why it's taking effect now."

"Tell me, was it working before or after Alice left the room?"

"I noticed after she left, you don't think she has something to do with it do you?"

"Yes and no," Carlisle said vaguely, making Jack suspicious. "You see Jack, my family and I, we aren't human."

"Oh," Jack said, putting his finger up to his lips in thought. "Different would mean different signature. Yours could be stronger then a humans. Quick, leave the room and don't come back until I say so."

Carlisle got up and left. Jack put on a new sample and squirted the dejecto on it, with the same results as he had before. He called for the vampire to come into the room and at once the change was instant. It only grew as Carlisle came closer to the scope.

"Well?" the doctor asked, holding his breath in anticipation.

"It works, not a cure but it could hold off the poison long enough for us to find one," Jack grinned goofily. "What did you say you were again?"

"It's better if you don't know," Carlisle said hesitantly. "My kind have punishments for exposure."

"Ah, I see how it is. Does Danny know what you are?"

"Yes."

"Then that's good enough for me. If my son trusts you, then I can too. Would it be possible to get all of your family here to test? I would like to see if one had a stronger effect then another."

"Good idea Jack, I'll round them up for you."

* * *

Out of all the Cullens, Edward's presence seemed to be the strongest on the samples. Everyone else was at a normally constant level, but Edward's energy seemed to be the catalyst that they needed in the reaction with the dejecto and Danny's blood.

"We'll have rotating shifts in Danny's room," Carlisle was saying to his family. "Edward will be in there most of the time, but the rest of us will relieve him of duty as it were. This will give us more time then we hoped, so please don't gripe about this. This is a life we're trying to save, and this is repayment for when he saved us."

"After he brought it here in the first place," Rose snorted.

If she wasn't his sister, Edward would have gotten up and given her a good kick in the ass. He really hoped she wasn't on the first shift.

"We're going to take it slow since Danny's system is very fragile. Esme is going to take the first shift, then Alice, than we think it will be safe enough to put Edward in the room. Any questions?"

"What if the Fentons' want a blood sample?" Jasper asked. "I mean, surely they would want to see if any of us can hold a cure for their son."

"I explained a few things to Jack, he doesn't know exactly what we are, but he's agreed to ask first before taking. Besides, I'm going to be looking into that theory myself and test a few things out with our venom. I might find something that could help, now that I know our mere presence can help Danny survive."

"I want to help Carlisle," Edward spoke up. "I want to do everything I can."

"Of course, since you seem to be able to help Danny the most, I'm going to need a lot of samples from you Edward—in the mean time, mingle with the humans and find out everything you can about Danny. It might help us save him if we keep him going, make him want to live just long enough until we have a cure."

Everyone nodded at this idea, and seeing no other objections, Carlisle rose from his seat.

"My dear, are you ready?" he asked his wife.

"Of course," Esme nodded her head and got up as well.

Since this was a delicate situation, only Carlisle and Esme were allowed in the room. Maddie had just finished hanging an IV with the dejecto in it when the vampires made it to the door.

"Thank you for doing this Esme," Maddie said when she saw them enter.

"I would do anything for Danny," Esme said, looking at the sleeping boy in the bed. "How is he?"

"Not good, but we're hoping this will fix it a little."

Maddie uncapped the needle and expertly shoved it up her son's arm. Danny's face twitched in unconscious pain before he stirred slightly and opened his blurry blue eyes.

"Mom?" he asked, seeing the woman closest to him.

"Don't worry sweety; we're going to help you," Maddie soothed while looking at the vitals on the screen beside her.

Carlisle did likewise and held his breath as he watched the screen blip and swerve its green line.

It rested for a few seconds before jumping back up and moving more lively then it did before, it wasn't anywhere near healthy for Danny, but it was better then what it had been. Carlisle released the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding and smiled at Esme who was sitting in the chair beside the bed.

"It's working," he whispered to her, realizing that Danny had fallen asleep again.

"Good, I won't leave until Alice comes in," Esme kissed her husband before he and Maddie reluctantly left to get some sleep.

"She'll look after my boy right?" she asked Carlisle in the hall with a tired voice.

"Like he was her own," Carlisle nodded and nudged Maddie into the room that her husband was sleeping in. "Don't worry about that now. We'll keep an eye on Danny while you sleep."

"Thank you Carlisle," Maddie yawned and smiled, but she frowned as a thought occurred to her. "Do you think we can talk a little longer, about Danny's future?"

Carlisle was unsure what she meant by that, but he nodded.

"Not tonight though, we need to be sharp to help Danny tomorrow. We'll talk at a more convenient time."

Maddie only nodded at his words and turned towards the bed. Carlisle shut the door, thinking how lucky Danny was to have a devoted mother, but with the way Esme had been acting lately, he was beginning to think he had two mothers now.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Yes, I updated! **_

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Danny knew what it felt like to slip from reality. All of those weeks without sleep in his youth were proof of that. This was a different type of slipping; as if some sort of vacuum was sucking at his strength to eliminate him, but it was agonizingly painful and slow. The worst thing was, he couldn't give voice to it. While he was conscious, he was also unresponsive to anything around him. He could hear, see, smell even, but he could do nothing back and he didn't know why. It scared him to be in this paralyzed state. Years of fighting and survival taught him to be constantly aware of his surroundings and to be ready to punch that he was having a nervous breakdown. He kept reminding himself that there were people here, people who would protect him, but for some reason, it didn't seem to be working.

* * *

"You alright Jasper?" Alice asked her love as he sat down heavily as if exhausted and gripped his head.

"Danny's freaking out upstairs," he informed her. "He's virtually on the edge of a mental break down, but I don't understand why."

"It's his hero complex."

Alice and Jasper looked up to see Sam enter the room, hands on her hips and frowning down at them. Edward, who had been sitting down listening, looked up as well, interested in what she had to say.

"Danny's only way of life is to protect others, has been ever since his accident," Sam elaborated. "When he lost his sister, it must have stalled his growth pattern, thus why he looks like he hasn't aged a day since I last saw him. Now that he's up there in the bed, and in worse condition so I've heard, he can't do anything. If he's spent all of these years in the Ghost Zone, then he was sharing space with a lot of his enemies. It would have been like Hitler hiding in a concentration camp with a whole batch of Jews ready to skin him alive. Now that Danny can't react to anything, he's powerless, and that scares him."

"That makes sense I guess," Jasper nodded. "And I'm glad Esme is the one up there in the room with him. No one was expecting for his system to react this way, Carlisle guessed that it was more damaged then we originally thought."

"Danny will come around," Edward said. "He's strong, I've seen it before. His body will compensate and he'll get better, slowly I'll admit, but he has a good chance now that we're on the right track for a cure."

"You know nothing about him," Sam whispered harshly, but their sharp hearing caught it anyway.

"So, you're a friend of Danny's?" Alice asked the human woman, searching for information that might help Danny relax in his current state.

"I'm one of his best friends," Sam said as if she was defending herself. "I've known him since Kindergarten."

"That's a long time," Edward mused. "I would feel bitter if he just up and left without an explanation."

"I was more worried than angry," Sam consented, leaning against the door frame while she talked. "When I heard about Jazz, I knew Danny would feel guilty. It's just a part of his nature to blame himself for nearly every little thing that happens. I was about to go to his house and see him, knowing that he needed somebody to keep him on the ground, but he had already left the house when I got there. The cops were all over the place and his parents were freaking out. When I asked where Danny was, they said that he had left, looking more furious then they thought possible."

Sam sighed and ran a hand through her dark hair, her eyes seeming to be further in the past then in the present.

"I have seen Danny angry before," she continued. "Most guys would go on a babbling rampage, others will punch a hole through the wall, or worse, do nothing and stew for hours on end. When Danny's angry, it's like he's a different person all together. His ghost side grabs him and before we know it, he's almost like an animal; full of hate, fury, and an instinct to kill. He won't hurt those he loves, he recognizes us even in that state, but those he considers enemies are in deep trouble.

"When I heard what his parents told me, I knew where to look. I drove down to Vlad's house and sure enough, there he was. The house was nearly in shambles, and that's saying something of a mansion. Danny was livid, throwing Vlad all over the place with inhuman speed and showing no mercy. It was obvious that Vlad was scared for his life and was trying to get away, but Danny wouldn't let him go. If it wasn't for the police showing up and seeing the damage, I'm sure Danny would have killed Vlad that day."

The vampires were silent, soaking this information in. Both Alice and Jasper found it a little hard to believe that Danny was capable of murder, however, they knew he was organized in a fight. The way he acted when Forks was under attack nearly a month ago now proved that. Edward however was thinking back to when they were both trapped in the Ghost Zone. He knew Danny had a powerful instinct for survival, no matter how much the hybrid denied it. He had seen Danny fight in Walker's arena, seen him with Aragon before when the dragon attacked, and when Skulker had showed up at Bella's house; he didn't even have to transform to beat that bucket of bolts before, but he had never seen Danny actually angry like Sam was describing.

"When news got out of Phantom's attack, they instantly connected him with Jazz's death. Danny had always been the scapegoat when something bad happened in town. The Fenton's went crazy, thinking that he had Danny as well since he was now missing. They went after him with a fury, guns blazing and intentions clear—to wipe Phantom off of the face of the earth. I wasn't there when Danny revealed himself to him, so I don't know exactly what happened."

"What happened after?" Alice asked quietly.

"The Fentons called us, me and Tucker I mean. When they told us that we knew and that Danny just up and disappeared, we were worried. We went looking for him, all of his old haunts and even the Ghost Zone at one time, but only Danny could really navigate that pit and we were lost ourselves so we really had no hope of finding him. We comforted the Fentons as best as we could, but nothing we did would bring Danny back. Oddly enough, ghosts stopped coming through the portal for a while. They do creep out sometimes, but nothing that we can't handle. The Fentons pretty much just stopped what they were doing, their children were gone and they were sad about it. You have no idea, what the hope is doing for them now that they found their son and they have a chance to save him."

Edward only nodded, thinking about how Maddie had reacted when they found their son coughing up blood on the carpet behind the couch. He had remembered Jack's look as well, freaked and scared. Now he saw Danny's parents work around the clock to save him. He knew Danny's was wrong when he had said earlier that their half-ghost son wouldn't matter to them. He had read their minds and seen their actions. The Fentons loved their son deeply, no matter what he was, and right now, they were his only hope to live.

* * *

Carlisle sometimes wished he had Edward's mind-reading abilities. Maddie Fenton was acting strangely as she shut the door to one of the rooms so they could talk privately. Whatever the subject was, it seemed hard for her to talk about it because she only stared at him as if he had an answer to her unasked question.

"What's on your mind Maddie?" he asked.

"Remember last night, when I asked if we could talk about Danny's future?" the woman asked him, looking sad but determined to go on despite her pain.

"Yes, I remember very well," Carlisle said, still unsure what she meant by that. "Mind explaining what you mean?"

Maddie sighed and sat down in a chair.

"When Danny get's better, I wanted to take him with us, back to Amity Park. When we found out that he was here, I had imagined that he wasn't like he was. The sickness we were expecting, but not his age—or lack of. Danny can't go back to a place where people would recognize him. You're like him aren't you? You don't age? I saw all of the graduation caps on the wall, it's not that hard to figure out if you say you aren't human. I was hoping . . . that maybe Danny could stay with you?"

Carlisle was going to say something, but Maddie in her nervousness continued.

"I know that you might say no, but here me out. If we do somehow manage to find a cure for Danny, he could have a relapse. It seems that whatever you are is helping him survive this poison. Also, I can imagine that you have survived for a long time, without humans finding out what you are. Danny needs that protection, needs to be in a place where he's safe and can't be found out by other people. You can give that to him, I know you can."

Carlisle stayed quiet as Maddie started to sob quietly into her hands.

* * *

When Danny started to groan slightly, Esme was alerted and looked his way. Since Danny had been sleeping most of the time, she had a couple of books with her to skim over. When Carlisle told her what had happened to Danny, how he had been nearly paralyzed and that he might come out of it sooner than might be expected, Esme had been concerned, but hopeful that Danny would come out of it soon. He had woken up some time ago, but did nothing, his eyes clouded over in medication and pain. Esme watched him, but nothing further happened. When he started to make noises, she was nearly overjoyed to hear just a moan from him.

"Danny?" Esme came closer to the bed and hovered over him.

The hybrid moved his head to look at her, but his look was one of confusion, his forehead wrinkled with the draw-down of his eyebrows and his eyes said that he was in a great deal of pain, but was confused as to why. Esme's bright smile quickly withered down into a frown. It was clear that Danny didn't know her. She had been told that this might happen, but it was a lot more hurtful then she thought it would be.

"Who are you?" Danny croaked out, sounding rather pathetic.

"Danny? It's me, Esme. You remember right?"

Danny only frowned in further confusion and started to squirm.

"I don't know you. Where are my parents?"

"They're downstairs, everything's okay now."

Esme touched his cheek, trying to get him to calm down. Instantly, Danny became limp and turned his face into her hand. He took a raged breath and let it out in a damaging cough.

"You smell nice," he commented as if he was drugged, sounding very relaxed and far away.

Esme had to smile, knowing that the treatment was working with the way Danny was reacting to her. She ran her hand through his hair, feeling her fingers get caught in the knots and tangles.

"I'm hungry," Danny said as if it just occurred to him.

"You want me to get you something?" Esme asked, shocked that he would be hungry now.

"Not that kind of hungry," he sighed as he took in her scent again.

Now Esme understood. He was hungry for the energy that ran his ghost half, the energy that he could no longer metabolize. If the dejecto was making it possible to at least give him a little energy, then of course he would be starving.

"You're not human," he spoke up with a tiered sigh. "You don't feel human."

"No, I'm not," Esme said, caressing his face again. "Do you want me to get your parents, or your friends? They're all just downstairs."

"No," he said after a minute to think about it. "To tired to talk to them."

"Alright, then maybe you should get some more rest."

"You'll be here?"

"Yes."

Danny's eyes slid shut and he became slack, instantly out again. Esme hoped that he could pull through this. She knew that if he died, it would be like losing her child all over again.


	9. Chapter 9

_**I couldn't wait to get this up. This is a revelation chapter! Yeah I'm so excited to see what you guys think about it.**_

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Valerie as becoming annoyed quickly. It seems her computer was either malfunctioning, or that kid was something that didn't exist. She had run his picture through her data base—a highly advanced piece of equipment that was used to track down ghosts before they had died. This was different. There were many different aliases for this guy, and none of them seemed right. In every picture that popped up, he looked the exact same—whether it was ten years before or fifty. The kid didn't seem to age. The same was true with the rest of his freaky family. She had been spying on them ever since she was able to find an address under the boy's current false name.

She was shocked to see the Fenton's there; as far as she knew, they had stopped ghost hunting when Jazz had died and that traitor of a son of theirs had fled and hid for twenty years. Danny must be in the house then, but why hadn't she seen him at all? For all of the years she knew him, Danny wasn't the kind to be kept up in a house. He had to get out and fly sometime. Since her stakeouts at the Cullens' place wasn't bringing results, she had been doing research and trying to dig up some dirt on the family who were housing her greatest enemy.

Oddly enough, a link came up to the Fenton's old website. She wasn't sure why that was—it didn't seem that the Cullens had any link with the Fentons, maybe they had known each other years back? She clicked on several more links, but kept the FentonWorks page minimized just in case she had to go back. The only other piece of information that seemed valid were old newspapers from Chicago back in the early 1900s; she had found the kid's picture in the obits area, this said that he had died in 1918 at just seventeen. His whole family had fallen to a plague, the only surviving member was a distant cousin who had been overseas at the time. What interested her most though, were the seemingly random brutal attacks in the area after the kid died. Most said that there was blood, but not enough to sustain a body. She followed these events and they didn't just stay in Chicago, they moved around the states for some years before just stopping. She didn't know what to make of that.

She realized that the FentonWorks website was still up and she clicked back on it. Only the stupid mouse wasn't working right. She double clicked on the minimized bar but it came up to fast to stop the second click and she got into a link that she didn't want. She grumbled and was about to go back when she stopped and read what she had accidently brought up.

"No way!"

* * *

Danny was staring up at the ceiling, his present state being—well Carlisle would call it a slight improvement; however, the first time Tucker saw his friend that day he stopped to ask what he had been smoking.

"Danny seems to be in some sort of euphoric state of mind," Carlisle said as he started to time the hybrid's pulse to make sure he wasn't having some sort of heart failure again. "But I can't for the life of me figure out why."

"The only other time I've seen him like this, he was either hit in the head too hard, or he was on pain meds," Tucker explained as he saw Danny's dreaming expression as his eyes roamed around the ceiling as if tracking something. "You didn't give him pain meds did you?"

"No, I didn't know what it would do to his body," Carlisle shook his head and put Danny's arm back on the bed. "He's pulse is fine, in fact, it is quiet normal. This is the most relaxed state he's been in since he was put in here."

Danny gave a lazy chuckle as he pointed up at the ceiling, "Silly birds, can't go intangible like I can."

"Dude, are you okay?" Tucker shook Danny's shoulder, but there was no immediate response.

"Stop that," Danny weakly slapped Tucker's hand away, "I want to watch the birdies."

"Okay, this is kind of scaring me Doc."

"It might be the virus," Carlisle said as he came to his feet. "It's messed with his lungs, heart, and head; who is to say that it can't mess with his hormones as well?"

Carlisle got an uncomfortable feeling and looked down to see that Danny was staring at him rather intently, and slightly cross eyed. Danny gave a dreamy laugh and sighed heavily.

"You got pretty eyes," he drawled out before looking back up at the ceiling and laughing to himself again.

Carlisle only rubbed his eyes with his hands, a little uncomfortable now, but he knew there was nothing he could do.

"He'll just have to ride this out," Carlisle said as he turned to leave. "I'm sure it's only temporary."

"I sure hope that's true," Tucker shook his head as he watched Danny try to catch an imaginary fly—or whatever it was that he saw.

"Hey Tuck!"

Tucker looked up to see Jack come into the room followed by Edward. The new comers stopped and stared at a Danny, eyes wide and jaws open.

"Uh, is he okay?" Jack asked pointing at his son.

"Carlisle said that the virus or whatever is messing his brain up," Tucker explained. "It's like he's high on something."

"Kind of reminds me when he was ten," Jack muttered and came closer to the bed. "He had broken his arm pretty badly and the doctor gave him some pain killers to keep him comfortable at home—that was a week I will never forget."

"Why?" Edward asked.

"When he starts petting the couch thinking it's a giant tiger, you know something's wrong," Jack dead-panned. "Oh, and I would keep all cold substances out of his reach."

"Yeah, he'll gobble them down and choke," Tucker chuckled.

"It's hot," Danny moaned and started to shift under the sheets uncomfortably.

"Don't worry Danno!" Jack smiled his trademark grin and rumpled Danny's bed-ragged hair. "I'll go get your mother and we'll cool you down."

Danny only stared dumbly up at Jack.

"Why are there two of you?"

"Because your brain is a little messed up right now," Jack explained with a smile as if it was a happenstance occurrence.

"Did you blow something up again? Mom won't be happy," Danny asked, cocking his head on the pillow a little too far to the left and making it look painful.

"No, I haven't blown anything up in a week. And that might change! Come on Tucker, I'll need your help setting up the blast-proof walls in the living room."

Tucker moaned, but followed Jack out of the room. Edward was left alone with Danny and took a seat by the bed.

"Your father is really something," he said the hybrid, shaking his head, but smiling.

Danny was listening, instead, he was staring at Edward with more intensity then he had been with Carlisle. Edward began to shift in his seat, feeling uncomfortable with those clouded blue eyes staring at him.

"What?" he asked.

"You look different then your picture," Danny said simply, going cross-eyed again.

"What? What do you mean?"

"Your picture, on the mantel," Danny clarified.

"Spit it out Danny, the whole story."

"Dad keeps a picture . . . on the mantle," Danny started to yawn and drift off again.

"Don't go yet," Edward got up and shook Danny by the shoulders. "What picture Danny?"

"The one of great-great granddad William's cousin and his family," Danny said, trying to wiggle out of Edward's tight grip.

Edward let Danny go and the hybrid fell onto the pillows. He looked up at Edward, fear in his clouded eyes, but the vampire was too busy staring at the space above Danny's head in shock.

"That can't be right. You're delusional right now, you've got to be making it up!"

Danny cringed back at Edward's yelling. The vampire saw this then calmed down and sat back down in the seat. He stared at Danny then sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Why do you have a picture of me on the mantle?" Edward asked.

"It's Dad's family," Danny explained, but his eyes started to droop. "Great-great granddad William started FentonWorks in a way. When he got back from the war, he figured out that all of his family had died off. He always kept that photo of his cousin with him to remember better times. He said that he seemed to see his cousin sometimes. And he swore that he saw him at his Aunt and Uncle's graves. That's when the family started to hunt ghosts."

Edward sat back in his chair, shaking his head at the ludicrous story.

"What . . . what was the cousin's name?" Edward asked, scared of the answer.

Danny yawned before replying, "Edward Masen Junior."

Then he promptly fell asleep.

* * *

"Um, Mr. Fenton, are you sure this is safe?" Tucker asked.

"Of course it is!" Jack shouted happily, turning on the blow torch. "Now, just keep that piece of metal steady while I try to weld the treads for the Fenton RV back in place."

"But, are you sure you should be doing it _on _the RV? Right next to the gas tank?"

While Tucker started to sweat, Jack only put on the mask and shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh come on, it can't be that dangerous!"

Tucker only whimpered as Jack brought the blow-torch closer to the treads he was holding together. The door burst open on the back porch and Tucker saw a distraught looking Edward walk towards them.

"Jack, I need to talk to you!"

"What's that?" Jack asked, looking up—and bringing the blow torch with him.

Tucker yelled and jumped out of the way as the flames came close to his face. The flames warped the metal of the RV, than the explosion rocked the land. When the smoke cleared, Edward brought his arms down to see Jack, face black from the flash of the explosion, but still in one piece, but the RV only had a front half.

"Hum, I thought I blast proofed everything," Jack said puzzled as he looked at the damage.

Edward could only blink at the man's carelessness, but the reason he was out here was more important.

"Danny told me a little story," he said as he came closer to talk to Jack. "He said I look like the guy in the photo on the mantle."

"Huh?" Jack asked, rubbing his eyes clear of soot. "Wait! Yeah, that's who you remind me of! Hah! I knew I wasn't going crazy."

Jack zipped down his damaged suit and brought out the photo in question.

"Here, you can see for you—woah!"

Jack's eyes went wide as he compared the photo with the live specimen in front of him.

"I don't believe it, you're _that _Edward? This is so awesome!"

Edward snatched the photo from Jack as the big man started to become a little too exuberant for the vampire and looked at it. His non-beating heart jumped up into his throat. He remembered taking this with his parents right before Will went overseas, then . . .he was related to Fenton's by blood. They were his actually family.

"He always said you were still around," Jack said, startling Edward.

"What?"

"Great Granddad William! Always said he wouldn't rest until he found your ghost to see why you were still here," Jack frowned suddenly. "But you aren't a ghost. This is odd."

"Don't you find it a little startling that I'm still alive after nearly a hundred years?" Edward asked him.

"Not really," Jack shrugged. "But come on, I think we need to talk. I would invite you into the RV, but I kind of just blew up that half of the car."

The two took to walking by the river instead, far enough away from the house where Edward hoped the others were too busy to listen in on them.

"Tell me how you know this stuff," Edward pointed to the photo. "How did you get this?"

"Passed down from my dad to me," Jack said, taking the picture back. "It's kind of like our good luck charm in the family. Great Granddad William swore it kept him safe while he was fighting overseas. When he heard of the influenza break-out, he came straight back home, but it was too late. He was at his family's funeral when he saw—well you. He said he thought he saw a ghost and dismissed it on his mourning, until he saw you again. He was obsessed with finding you again, when most just took him to be crazy."

"Did it get him in trouble?"

"Enough trouble to where he had to get out of Chicago. He did his research and turned it into a profession. Lucky for him, he found Gwen, a woman just as interested on the subject of ghosts as he was. When she heard his story, she wanted to help his research so he could find closure, and they were married soon after. They only had two girls, but after that, there was at least one boy in the family. He started up FentonWorks with his son in law—Jeffrey Fenton who married his youngest daughter."

"Why give the company Jeffrey's name? Did he die before the company was complete?"

"No, Great Granddad William is still kicking it in an old folk's home."

"He what?" Edward asked incredulous.

"He hasn't kicked the bucket yet," Jack clarified. "Still has his wits with him, doesn't need glasses, and still thinks he's a ladies' man. He's as stubborn as this virus Danny is fighting," a thoughtful look came over Jack. "Huh, that might explain why you seem to help Danny more than the rest of your family, you guys share genetics. Kind of like a kidney or a heart transplant, need a nearly perfect match to make it work."

Edward could only shake his head. His was impossible. Here he was, talking with his nearly thrice over cousin, and it didn't seem to disturb the ghost hunter one bit. Of course, that could change if he ever knew the truth.

"Come on Vampy, let's go get Mads in on this so we can start working on a cure!"

"What did you just call me?" Edward asked, disbelieving yet again.

"Huh? Oh, just slipped out. I mean, how else can you explain being here without actually dying?" Jack asked with his goofy grin. "Now come on."

"Unbelievable," Edward moaned, but followed, thinking how continent this had become.


	10. Chapter 10

_**I have an explination! Don't shoot, wait for my reasons! Recently, my computer crashed and everything got wiped from it. That includes every FanFiction story I had. I have to build up everything straight from memory now so please be paient with me! Otherwise, enjoy!**_

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It had been two days since Danny had entered dream land. After coming out of his euphoric state, the half-ghost quickly started to go faster than they thought possible. The Ecto-Dejecto/ vampire energy combination was losing its effective hold on Danny and without the help of it, his body started to shut down faster and faster as the hours wore on. He had flat lined early in the morning, raising hell in the house and waking up all of the humans into a panic.

Carlisle did his best to keep Danny going, but despite his efforts Danny only continued to go down. Edward was by his side almost constantly. Though there wasn't much hope left in their plan, the fact that he now knew they were family sparked some sort of defiance in him. He had left his human family behind years ago and over the years, they slowly left his mind to be replaced by the family he knew now. This return of his past was shocking. Never in his life did he imagine he would find relatives of people he knew who were now long dead. If Danny died, Edward wasn't sure what he would do. He brought it up with Bella one night when she called him to find out how Danny was.

"He's not good Bella," Edward told her quietly. "We're not sure what we are going to do."

"There's nothing, nothing at all?" she asked, sounding like she had been crying not long before the call.

"I don't want to lose hope, but there's not much we can do other then wait for him to—" he couldn't finish, but Bella understood him.

"He's going to die, isn't he?" she asked him, but didn't get a response.

Edward wasn't ready to admit that news even to himself. He growled and pounded the wall in frustration, though not hard enough to leave a hole in the wall.

"I hate this, I feel so powerless," his frustration must have been evident because Bella's next words kind of shocked him.

"You're only human Edward, no matter what you are," she said. "I feel this way some times. Like when you and the wolves wanted to fight Victoria and her fledgling army. Do you know how powerless I felt, having to sit on the side lines like that?"

"I have a feeling how you felt, yes," Edward sighed. "I just—I don't want to give up on him."

"Then don't, find another way around the problem. He's family Edward, you do all you can for family."

Edward didn't say anything but he agreed with her.

"What do you think will happen to him, if he lives?" Bella asked and Edward's thoughts took a different train to ride.

"I don't know. He might go back with the Fentons."

"I don't think that is so smart. If they move into his old town, then people might recognize him. And besides, what are the Fentons going to say? That he's their son?"

"I agree with you, but I know his parents want him back, but no matter what they do, things can never go back to the way they were twenty years ago. It's like taking a bad heart and trying to put it into a good body."

Edward stopped, eyes wide as the gears in his head started to turn rapidly.

"Edward?" Bella asked over the phone. "Edward are you still there."

"Bella, I got an idea and I have to let Carlisle know. It might save Danny."

"Then go!" Bella shouted at him. "Call me back as soon as you can."

Edward hung up and rushed to the kitchen where Carlisle was talking with Maddie and Jack.

"What is it Edward?" Carlisle asked, seeing the look in his face.

"What if it's his heart?" Edward asked him. "This thing is attacking his lungs, brain, muscles one at a time. If it was just poison in the blood, then the whole body would be attacked at once, like organ damage and coma if his brain was effected badly enough. I think this thing is radiating from one point in his body and sending it out to everywhere else in his system and the only organ I know that can effect the whole body like that is the heart."

Carlisle looked at Edward with a dumbfounded look.

"Now why didn't I think of that?" he asked himself.

"It's a good theory," Maddie said, but she sounded defeated. "It really is a good idea, but how are we going to know for sure if it is his heart?"

"Well, there's only one way to do that," Jack said and all eyes turned to him. "Carlisle would have to operate."

"No!" Maddie nearly shouted, jumping up from her chair. "No! Jack, no! Danny is too weak to cut him open, we could lose him even faster."

"And we lose him if we don't," Jack argued quietly. "Maddie, we got to try."

"And I'm saying no Jack!"

"Wait!" Edward shouted to get their attention. "I'm sorry, but I don't think it's your decision. I think Danny should be the one to decide."

* * *

Upstairs, Danny was slowly becoming use to the constant pain and suffocation. His lungs had almost given out on him, too weak and shredded to continue on being useful to him. Alice was with him, though he didn't remember her name. It was hard to come up with his own name sometimes, much less the name of someone he hardly knew. He just knew that they could be trusted. How was beyond him, but somehow, he just knew.

He didn't notice when the other came in, nor did he acknowledge their words. He was busy thinking. He felt like he had forgotten something, something very, very important. Too important to forget. Oh, what was he thinking about again? It felt like it was very, very important.

"Danny! Can you hear me?"

He looked lazily over to Edward, though he didn't know his name he knew he could be trusted. He didn't know how, he just knew.

"Danny listen to me," Edward spoke quickly while he had the ghost's attention. "We think that it might be your heart that is causing the problem. We need to open you up to see if it is your heart. Are you okay with that?"

He was sick? Yes, yes he felt sick, but he was more sleepy then sick. Who was this guy anyway? Couldn't he see that he was thinking on something important? Something very, _very _important?

"Danny, you might not survive an operation," Maddie's voice broke through his haze and he had a few minutes of recollection, almost as if a battery had been hooked up to his brain and it was jump started.

"Do . . . what you think . . . is best," he said, gasping for breath each word. "I don't think . . . I have . . . much time . . . left."

"Okay, so you are okay with us opening you up?" Carlisle said.

"Yes . . . but, I don't . . . see much . . . point to it. Can you . . . leave me alone . . . now? Edward . . . you need . . . to stay."

They all left, reluctantly, but they left. Edward stayed behind, knowing it was important since Danny said his name after nearly a week of not remembering it.

"The desk," Danny said weakly. "Look . . . in the desk."

Edward went to the desk and opened up the drawers. He found what Danny wanted him to see in the top drawer, a thick fold of papers.

"What is this Danny?" he asked the ghost.

"My last testament," Danny said. "I don't have . . . any property . . . to give away . . . so there is no . . . will. Give it . . . to . . . my family. Okay?"

"Danny, you are going to live," Edward said but Danny was shaking his head before the words left his mouth.

"No . . . I'm not," Danny argued and he sounded so weak and frail that Edward had no words to lash back with. "There is . . . a letter . . . for you. Read it . . . whenever . . . you feel ready. But, don't . . . wait . . . too long. A life . . . depends on that . . . letter."

Edward found the envelope easily, separating it from the rest of the papers. He looked at Danny, but the ghost had already fallen asleep. Edward sighed and sat next to the bed, looking at the white envelope as if it held a nasty surprise. The vampire looked up at Danny again then decided that whatever was inside, Danny had a good reason to put it there in his possession.

It tore easily in his strong hands and he read the simple letter.

_Edward,_

_Man I must be in bad shape if you are reading this. By now, you know that I am going to die. Don't try to fight it Edward, I accepted this fate a long time ago. However, I have unfinished business here and I am intrusting you with it instead._

_I did come back for a reason, and that was to find a home. Not for myself, but a safe place for someone I know. I chose you and your family. You can disappear and reappear at will in the world among humans. Despite Vlad being out of commission, there are still people who can harm us Edward, or at least her._

_Her story is long and complicated and I can't put it into this letter. Her name is Danni, yes I know the name is confusing, but she likes to be called Di so as not to get our names mixed up. Di is my sister, at least I think of her as a sister, it might not be the correct term, but I don' t know what the correct term is really. She needs somewhere safe, she's like me and can't stay where she is much longer. I told her I would find her a home, and I know she will be safe with you guys. Please do this for me._

_This is my last wish._

Edward let the letter drop to his lap while he looked at Danny. If he could, he would have been crying.

"I will help her Danny, once I save you." He promised.


End file.
